A few days ago, a very detrimental event occurred for the crypto ecosystem, where the largest #DEX of #SUİ , CETUS, was compromised, allowing a hacker to take over $220 million in crypto assets, raising alarms in the community. Here lies the dilemma, as Cetus immediately contacted the SUI team and managed to freeze a large portion of the stolen amount, but this brought the role of a 'decentralized network' into debate. What happened during the hack and how were they able to stop the outflow of stolen money from the network? Let's explore.
On May 22, the DEX Cetus was hacked due to an exploit in the smart contract code, resulting in over $220 million in user funds being lost in just hours.
At that moment, the situation became chaotic for users on the SUI network as they did not know what was happening. The #memecoins , even the SUI network's own token began to drop. No one could do anything; only a few realized what was happening and started moving their funds to a safe place.
Meanwhile, once the hacker drained the CETUS liquidity pool, they thought it was unstoppable, and that the next logical step was to withdraw the stolen money outside of SUI and subsequently cover their tracks through a #Criptomonedas mixer. They were mistaken...
To start the process of withdrawing money off-chain, it first bridged to Ethereum, converting only $60 million to ETH. Seeing that it could continue doing so, it decided to go for the rest, but its plan was thwarted by the preventive actions of the SUI network.
What SUI did, with the help of its validators, was to ban the hacker's #Hacker wallet from the network (ignoring the hacker's transactions), thereby freezing $162 million (the remaining money) in the midst of the transaction. As a result, those $162 million are now practically stranded in a wallet.
This is where the dilemma of centralization or decentralization of a layer 1 blockchain network comes into play. Until now, no one knew that the SUI network could do that (or that it could be done quickly among its validators). This does not happen automatically and requires consensus among themselves. Finally, it happened, and speculation started regarding the role of 'decentralization in SUI.'
This is a topic that needs to be approached with caution, as once these types of emergency actions are taken to 'save something,' there is no turning back. Who knows if in the future they could do the same with other cases.
This is why a whole debate arises about the decisions made now and in the future that could be taken in the network. The first has already been made regarding the freezing of the hacker's funds. But this doesn't end here ...
Since recently, CETUS announced that they are proposing a new protocol update subject to a community vote to recover the $162 million frozen in the hacker's wallet and return it to its rightful owners. In this decision, validators and stakers of SUI will vote.
Whatever the decision, it will mark a before and after for the SUI network.
Were you affected by this incident?
👉More crypto updates ...
Share and follow me for more 👈😎
